Houston Scores on Indian Lake
Thome nets co-angler title
Brandon Houston of Burlington, Kentucky, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Buckeye Division tournament on Indian Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces. Houston took home $4,944 for his win.
“I started out fishing pads on Saturday, but I didn’t have a fish in the boat at 11 (a.m.),” says Houston, who earned his second career win in BFL competition. “I decided to move and fish stretches of rock in the Black Hawk area of the lake. Other anglers seemed to be casting reaction-type baits like spinnerbaits and crankbaits, so I decided to slow down and drag a tube.”
Houston says he used a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube with a ¼-ounce tungsten weight with a 4/0-sized Black Chrome-colored Owner Wide Gap Plus hook. He threw the bait using 20-pound-test Seaguar InvizX line on a 7-foot Falcon BuCoo SR Heavy Casting rod.
“On Sunday I started by the ramp and a caught couple of keepers, but then went until 11:30 (a.m.) again without a bite,” says Houston. “I went down a stretch where I’d caught a couple on Saturday and caught two more. By that time, I’d already fished my main stretch from Saturday, but it seemed like they were pulling up on that rock later in the day, so I went back at about 1:30 (p.m.) and caught my biggest fish of the day. Those were the only five bites I got.”
Houston added that his second fish – a 2½-pounder – came from pads on a black Strike King KVD Sexy Frog.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky., 10 bass, 19-2, $4,944
2nd: Cody Seeger, Bellefontaine, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-7, $2,472
3rd: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-5, $1,579
4th: Jeremy Tenwalde, Ft. Jennings, Ohio, nine bass, 14-12, $1,107
5th: Miles Johnson, Centerville, Ohio, 10 bass, 13-7, $1,249
6th: Eric Moore, Hamilton, Ohio, eight bass, 13-4, $870
7th: Josh Smith, Hamilton, Ohio, eight bass, 11-14, $791
8th: Ron Hiles, Piketon, Ohio, five bass, 11-8, $1,282
9th: Jay Ellis, Celina, Ohio, five bass, 10-7, $633
10th: Kevin Spears, New Boston, Ohio, four bass, 9-8, $553
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Hiles caught a bass weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $570.
Thome wins co-angler title
Austin Thome of Oxford, Ohio, caught a two-day total of seven bass weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,238.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Austin Thome, Oxford, Ohio, seven bass, 8-10, $2,238
2nd: Jordan Scales, Russells Point, Ohio, five bass, 7-15, $1,119
3rd: James McWhorter, Hamilton, Ohio, four bass, 6-12, $748
4th: Mark Miller, Baltic, Ohio, three bass, 5-9, $522
5th: Darian Ginter, Maplewood, Ohio, five bass, 5-7, $448
6th: Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, four bass, 5-1, $610
7th: Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., three bass, 5-0, $373
8th: David Rackley, Kettering, Ohio, three bass, 4-11, $336
9th: Rick McGuire, Brookville, Ohio, two bass, 4-8, $298
10th: Aaron Kuhlmann, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 4-7, $261
Logan Kaplon of Rural Valley, Pennsylvania, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds even – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $262.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.